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Chapter 14- Measuring Tape and Jars

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"My ancestors are surely turning in their graves," my mentor commented dryly as he assessed the state of his family's mansion.

Every room was an open portal to a different dimension. Dimensional rips were scattered on various segments of the ceiling. And those strange shadow-like creatures guarded every door. We had managed to sneak in through a portal that opened up to one of the bathrooms. The bathrooms were, in fact, the only doors that weren't guarded. I was curious to know if Itharos had something against opening dimension portals in restrooms or if we were just that lucky.

"We distract. You search," Alexandra ordered.

Neither Revelin nor I chose to argue with that. We simply took off in the direction of my mentor's chambers. Before we even took a step towards the door, I felt the familiar weight of a warm hand on my shoulder and looked up.

"I know that I won't be able to take on Itharos alone," He began as his blue eyes took on the serious sharpness that was usually reserved for my training. "I will hold him off for as long as I can until we are able to regroup. But I need you to find Tweedledee and Tweedledum for me. Alexandra's orb showed that they weren't in the same room as Makith. Itharos probably has them held captive elsewhere."

I let out a snort at the latest nicknames that Prince Damien and Duncan were labeled. "How can you be sure that they're not really in there with him?" I questioned. I didn't want to let him go in there alone.

"Take this," He said as he reached into his pocket and handed me a charm.

I gaped at the little thing. "Are you fucking kidding me?" I hissed. In my hand was a charm version of the top half of my favorite pajamas. When I looked back up, I saw that my mentor was holding a charm of the pajama bottoms. "I thought you said you hated seeing those? Really? I mean, it couldn't be my favorite mug that defines me… I'm now the 'pajamas' charm for everyone?"

Revelin let out a snort. "You were the one that continued to wear them stubbornly. One would think you'd be happy." A devious smirk formed on his face. "I may not like them, but…" He dangled the charm of my pajama bottoms in his hand. "Your pants are safe in my hands."

A hot blush rose to my face in spite of everything. "So, I take it that these will serve as our means of communicating?"

"Exactly," My mentor confirmed. "Should I find them here first, or if I find that I'm unable to stall any longer, I will activate the charm on my end."

"Alright." The logical part of me envisioned the 'safety in numbers' picture that Revelin was painting for me, should we all manage to regroup properly. But another part of me, one that I had fervently ignored up until recently, screamed at me not to leave him alone. I nodded reluctantly and forced my feet to move. Looking back would only make me lose my resolve. They were trusting me to find and release our friends, and I was going to play my part.

"Just how the hell am I supposed to find those two?" I grumbled under my breath as I checked room after room. Just about the only place I hadn't checked was… "The basement!" As I neared my destination, some of the strange shadow beings blocked my path. "Not you guys again…" I readied a concentrated layer of Vim on my hand, but as I prepared to launch myself at them, I stopped dead in my tracks at the chaos that unfolded before me.

One moment, I saw shadow-like arms extended towards me, and the next, an arctic dragon howled at them and promptly trampled the group of shadow beings as it ran past. Alexandra and Verity were running right behind it, using their Vim to tie the arms and legs of some of the 'shadows.' "We got this, Cyber! You go on ahead!" Alexandra ordered.

I didn't even question it; I just made my way through to the basement. If it wasn't one chaos, it was another. The surprises kept coming as I ran down the stairs to the basement to find the bottom of it wedged into another dimension's dungeon. Revelin would pass out from shock at the sight. As I warily walked between the dungeon cells, I raised an eyebrow when I found my current charges making out against the bars, their arms sliding beneath clothes. 

"Isn't that an uncomfortable position?" I asked. They pulled away immediately at the sound of my voice. "No time for explanations. Let's get you out of here," I stated sharply as I used my Vim to form a key and unlocked the cell door. 

"Revelin wants us to try to ambush Itharos together," I said. "So, stick close to me and try not to get side-tracked." When we ran back out into the hallway, it was swarming with shadow beings. "Why are there so many of them now?" I wondered aloud as I fought my way forward and kept the other two in my line of sight.

"They started pouring out of a dimension from one of the rooms!" Verity cried. Alexandra, the dragon, and herself were fighting off the legions.

Prince Damien, Duncan, and I helped to fend them off to the best of our ability. We were well into the battle when I felt the charm vibrating in my pocket. "Shit!" I hissed. Why couldn't anything just go according to plan? "Can you two keep an eye on our charges?" I yelled.

"Yes, I think so," Verity replied. "I'll just keep them near the dragon. Just go!"

As I ran and forced my way through the shadow beings, I came to the most daunting realization. I fought tooth and nail with the voices in my head stating the obvious. Why was I even worried about my mentor?

He was a bastard. 

After all, he just about trained me into the ground every chance he got. And that was whenever he wasn't trying to take advantage of me. You'd think that other than the training part, he'd be more responsible about some things, but…

There was seriously no other way for me to describe it.

If I was honest with myself, I'd admit that he was somewhat of a genius… a philanthropist of sorts… and loyal to a fault…

He was also a man-slut...a manipulative rat...an egotistical dickhead…

My feet stumbled, and I found myself stopping to recover my balance before I fell. 

Oh, dear cosmos and all the other spirits that may exist in the universe...

How the freaking hell have I fallen in love with him?

This awareness continued to ring in my head as I burst through the doors of Revelin's room to find an enormous navy blue serpent squeezing my mentor within its coils with all its strength. Makith was struggling within his confinement, and Itharos was a limp, unmoving body on the ground beside him. Despite the scene being yet another unexpected chaos in my eyes, I lifted my chin and glared at the creature with furious hazel eyes. 

"Let. Him. Go." I hissed.

The serpent had only two front legs, both of which he used to crawl over to me. "You are not familiar to me. Has Itharos even met you?" When he lowered his massive face to look at me, I noticed that it had two long, thick whiskers on either side of its muzzle.

I took hold of those whiskers and pulled down on them hard. "Listen here," I growled. "I've eaten fried eel before, and I'm sure you'd taste no different. So, I will give you one last chance. Drop him."

"Heh." The serpent scoffed as he merely tightened his hold on Revelin. "Impudent little thing."

"Then I suppose I better work up an appetite," I stated as I coated both my hands with Vim. I dove and rolled right between its only legs and went straight for the tip of its scaled tail. My Vim formed a massive poleaxe that I swung down onto the tip. The blade merely embedded halfway, but the effect was immediate. The serpent howled and released its hold on Revelin.

I barely dodged in time when it took a swipe at me. I quickly jumped onto its paw and used it as a springboard to leap high above its head. This time, I formed a Vim axe that I embedded right in between its eyes. While the serpent thrashed about, I ran over to release Makith from his bindings.

"Look out!" Makith cried as the serpent's injured tail smacked against my back.

I had only just managed to release one of Makith's arms before I took the blow. The pain was formidable, but I knew the difference between a broken bone and bruises. While struggling to think, I felt a cool sensation on my back. "Makith?" I managed to grit out.

"One of the benefits of being an Idler," The nymph explained as he reached out as far as he could towards me. "The ability to use my Vim to heal. But, as a nymph, I can't use my Vim to attack." His golden eyes glanced warily at the fuming serpent. "I can release myself from here. Distract it while I check on Revelin and Itharos!"

"No!" The serpent roared, his tail slamming down to block Makith from getting to Itharos. "He's mine now, nymph!" His scales began to shift like light reflecting beneath rippling water. "For too long have I, Vianis, been imprisoned within the Traders ocean. Itharos is my only freedom!"

"You are not truly free if you are borrowing another's life as yours," I pointed out as I tried not to panic. Just how the hell did one kill a giant serpent from another dimension? When Vianis's navy blue eyes squinted at me, I kept trying to keep his attention on me. "In all honesty, you chose the wrong body to possess anyway."

Then, I witnessed a rather disturbing scene. I had studied demons and other such beings that possessed other creatures in various ways; it was the real reason Vim armor was so important, to not be influenced by another being's psychic particles or runes. The serpent's preferred orifice of possession was Itharos's nostrils. I watched, disturbed, as its tongue wriggled up the unconscious man's nose just before the rest of its body morphed into a ribbon-like form and zoomed into the nostrils with as much speed as an extended measuring tape sliding into its case after releasing its lock.

My only comfort was that Makith had witnessed the horrendous event as well from his position next to my mentor on the ground. The oasis nymph's mouth was opened as wide as mine was. But neither of us had time to dwell on the horrendous moment because Itharos's body was, once again, twice the threat that it was before. I don't know why I didn't see that coming. I was merely trying to goad the serpent to follow me out of the mansion into a more open area to attack without Revelin's inheritance coming down over our heads. Apparently, I had no other choice.

Vianis began to play with me as if he thought that by mere physical strength, he could beat me down. But, I was light on my feet and had plenty of stamina to burn. I, just like Revelin, was still hoping for some kind of backup to waltz right through that door despite the fact that I saw with my own eyes just how occupied everyone else was on the way here. If I was stalling the inevitable, I was going to give it all that I had.

The serpent began to tap into Itharos's Vim and began to throw it at me in different forms. I did my best to dodge and deflect without using my own Vim, as I knew that using too much of it would exhaust me. I was in the process of tossing back some of his attacks when I noticed Revelin stirring out of the corner of my eye. An idea came to mind, so I immediately acted on it. "Now it's my turn, Vianis," I growled as I began a full-on assault on the serpent. The hardest part was not to hurt the Wanderer's body too severely. I made as if to bind him, sending him chain after chain of my Vim. Sure enough, he deflected it right on my back, and I allowed the chains to bind me to the ground.

"Heh," Vianis scoffed as he glared down at me. "Made a mistake in choosing this body, have I? I certainly don't think so."

He stepped on my shoulder, and I winced in pain. He formed a spear out of his Vim and aimed it towards my neck, but my line of vision was on someone else. "About damn time," I hissed quietly before snapping the Vim chains off of me and locking them tightly around Itharos's upright body. "You should have found yourself another dimension to start over instead of borrowing power that isn't yours." I admonished. "Makith!"

The nymph rushed over, placed a hand on the man's back, and used his Vim to expel the serpent back out of Itharos's nostrils just as my mentor came around to trap Vianis's ribbon-like form into a rune jar and seal it. For a moment, all three of us gaped at the ribbon-like mass vibrating inside the blue-hued jar in an effort to escape. Our attention fell on Itharos as he began to groan. Startled, I immediately released the Vim restraints…which wasn't my brightest idea, as the man immediately collapsed onto the ground.

"Crap, forgive me, Makith," I apologized as the Idler quickly knelt to heal Itharos. I looked over at Revelin. "I don't think we're done just yet," I explained. "Leave these two here. The others could use some help with the 'shadow' beings."

Revelin hesitated for a moment before placing the jar next to Makith. "Hold onto that until we return," He suggested before following me out into the hallway.

I retraced my steps back to where I last saw the legions and skidded to a stop when I saw our friends seated on the ground and leaning against the sleeping Arctic dragon. Not a single 'shadow' being was in sight. "… never mind. I guess they're gone." I started with a slightly hysterical laugh that somehow infected the others, and they all started laughing as well.

"So," Revelin began when the laughter died down. "Who wants to help me fix my family's mansion back to its original state?" Several groans followed that statement.